When I described the 1,946 reasons to buy Force Protection (Nasdaq: FRPT) a few weeks back, did you listen? Did you review the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and conclude this was a stock worth owning? If so, I'm betting you're wearing a grin today.

But even if you missed out on last week's stock price leap at Force, don't get too upset -- there's still plenty of time to hitch a ride on this armored car-maker. If anything, I think the fun's only begun.

Victory on land
If you haven't heard by now, Force broke a years-long losing streak last week. After long toiling in the shadow of more successful contract winners Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Navistar (NYSE: NAV) and BAE, Force booked a win when the U.K. Ministry of Defense named the company's Ocelot the "preferred bidder" in the Light Protected Patrol Vehicle program.

While the deal's not official until the ink is dry, it does appear that Force has won the right to build a new armored car for the British military. Defense industry insiders suggest that an initial order for perhaps 200 vehicles should begin arriving in the U.K. in 2011, with follow-on orders expected to add at least another 200 vehicles to Force's order book.

What does that mean to Force Protection? Prices have not been finalized, so far as we know. But if the Ocelot prices around about where similar Force-built MRAPs have priced -- say, $500,000 apiece -- then we could be talking about more than $200 million in new revenue for Force.

Meanwhile, there's a second, even bigger contract in the works elsewhere, as Australia seeks a contractor to build a 1,300-armored car fleet. Force faces considerable competition from rivals such as Thales and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), but a win here could reap even richer rewards. Local media claims that Australia will spend more than $1 billion to outfit its army and air force units with the new "Protected Mobility Vehicle -- Light." This suggests a purchase price of perhaps $770,000 per vehicle. (It also suggests that I could be lowballing the U.K. revenue Force now has in the bag -- perhaps by as much as 50%.)

As we've seen in the past, momentum begets momentum in this business. Once Navistar, BAE, and General D began running away with MRAP business in the U.S., Force never managed to catch up. Let's just hope that this time, the U.K. win has given Force the momentum it will need to roll up successive victories down under, and around the globe.

Where are the best values in defense stocks today? Find out here.